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Kanthapura : Raja Rao

About Author:

"Raja Rao is one of those enigmatic writers whose novels have been received with wholehearted commendation by such critics as C.D. Narasimhaiah and Edwin Thumboo and with as intense or bemused a condemnation by many critics in India and by the reviewers of Time and the New York Times abroad. Rao is a powerful writer. He is profoundly metaphysical in the way he thinks and feels, and he has a scholarly background, an intimate familiarity with primary texts of Hindu, Bhuddhist, and Christian philosophies; his mastery of English vocabulary is indisputable (as is his mastery of French), and his prose is often scintillating poetry. ... All of Rao's novels explore philosophical concepts."
 


Theme of the novel:

              The theme of Kanthapura is the unification of different Indian castes under a Gandhian system of social justice during the fight against British rule of India. At the beginning of the novel, Kanthapura, a rural Indian village, is divided by caste. The narrator says of the Pariah neighborhood, where the people of the lowest caste live, "Of course you wouldn't expect me to go in the Pariah quarter" (page 5). The narrator is herself prejudiced against the Pariahs.
The village lives in its traditional way until Moorthy, a member of the Brahmin caste, goes to the city and returns with the ideas of Gandhi. As the narrator says of Moorthy, "he is one of these Gandhi-men, who say there is neither caste, nor class, nor family" (page 9). His fellow Brahmins are repulsed by his embrace of the Pariahs, and he begins to rally villagers to support the Indian National Congress and to wear homespun clothing in protest of the British occupation of India.
             The authorities eventually crack down on the villagers, and Moorthy is jailed. Rangamma, a widow who Moorthy has befriended, organizes the women of the village to continue the protest, and they are unbroken, even in the face of brutal acts committed by the authorities. In the end, the villagers of all castes are united against British rule and hope for Indian independence. While fighting against British rule, the members of the village unite, regardless of their caste.

About Novel:
           
   Rather than being a traditional novel with a neat linear structure and compact plot, Kanthapura follows the oral tradition of Indian sthala-purana, or legendary history. As Raja Rao explains in his original foreword, there is no village in India, however mean, that has not a rich legendary history of its own, in which some famous figure of myth or history has made an appearance. In this way, the storyteller, who commemorates the past, keeps a native audience in touch with its lore and thereby allows the past to mingle with the present, the gods and heroes with ordinary mortals.
                    The story is narrated in flashback by Achakka, a wise woman in the village. She, like her female audience (whom she addresses as “sisters”), has survived the turbulence of social and political change which was induced by Mohandas K. Gandhi’s passive resistance against the British government. Achakka provides a detailed picture of the rural setting, establishing both an ambiance and a rhythm for the novel. It is clear that her speech and idiomatic expression are meant to express a distinctively feminine viewpoint an extraordinary achievement for a male Indo-English novelist.
             Achakka quickly creates a faithful image of an Indian way of life, circumscribed by tradition and indebted to its deities, of whom Kenchamma, the great and bounteous goddess, is made the village protectress. She is invoked in every chapter, for the characters never forget that her power resides in her past action. It is she who humanizes the villagers, and their chants and prayers ring out from time to time.
                The narrator establishes the parameters of the story within old and new legends. While Kenchamma and Siva are remembered for their marvelous feats and interventions in human affairs, analogies are sometimes drawn with contemporary figures such as Gandhi who serve to turn fact and history into folklore, and who provide the motive for political struggle. At the beginning, while there are simply rumors of Gandhi’s activities, the villagers follow their customary routines. Then, Moorthy, a young, dedicated Brahmin, inspired by Gandhi, returns to Kanthapura to propagandize the cause of the Indian National.

Cited:
https://www.enotes.com/topics/kanthapura

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-theme-novel-kanthapura-by-raja-rao-62579

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